Question of the Day

Whose side of the story do you believe?

CREST HILL, Ill. (AP) - Illinois has shuttered the nation’s last prison roundhouse, a circular lockup with a guard tower in the middle that critics say created an especially harsh environment for inmates.

The state Department of Corrections began transferring the last prisoners from the maximum-security F House at Stateville to other locations on Oct. 26, the Chicago Sun-Times reported (https://bit.ly/2gN7pAZ ). The last 36 inmates were moved out Wednesday.

Closing the unit, which was built in 1922, will allow the department to divert $10.3 million in maintenance costs into other housing units and programs, officials said.

The John Howard Association, a prison watchdog group, said the outdated roundhouse design intensified the already visually chaotic and distressing auditory experience prison often causes.

In October, Gov. Bruce Rauner wrote an op-ed for the Chicago Sun-Times in which he announced his plans to overhaul the state’s criminal justice system. He called the correctional center one of the state’s oldest and most costly prison housing units.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1866, whose members worked at the prison, opposed the closure, arguing that the workers weren’t given enough prior notice.

Future plans for the unit remain unclear, but the department said it “recognizes its historical value” and plans to maintain the building.